Latest news with #wartrauma
Japan Times
3 days ago
- General
- Japan Times
How the scars of war in Okinawa are being healed by a psychologist
The mother and baby in front of him quickly became covered in blood. By the time he realized what he had done, they were both dead. 'I pulled the trigger,' a former Japanese soldier who had fought in the 1945 Battle of Okinawa said. 'It appears in my dreams over and over. It's unbearable.' One day in the summer of 2010, the former soldier, then in his mid-90s, visited a cave on Okinawa's main island with a group of war survivors. 'This smell — it's unmistakable. It's the place where that mother and child were,' said the man, who used the pseudonym Teruya. Breaking down in tears, Teruya was barely able to speak. But he made repeated apologies in a trembling voice: 'Forgive me, please forgive me.' The visit was part of a session with a support group for Battle of Okinawa survivors. Maiko Yoshikawa, 49, a professor at Okinawa University and a clinical psychologist, began a series of such initiatives in 2005 by forming grief care groups for war survivors across Okinawa Prefecture to help try to heal their emotional scars. Yoshikawa's approach was to repeatedly ask survivors whether they wished to participate in group sessions. Teruya, who underwent 21 preliminary interviews before joining group sessions, confided in Yoshikawa alone about his past. 'I won't speak in front of everyone, but I'd like to attend sessions,' he told her. 'You don't have to force yourself,' Yoshikawa replied. 'You can speak at your own pace." The group Teruya joined had eight other members. They gathered once a month, visiting sites related to their experiences of war or meeting in local community centers. 'I was a soldier,' Teruya reportedly said when he first introduced himself to the group. But he barely said anything else and sat quietly in the corner of the room, his face expressionless, according to Yoshikawa. Even when members of the group discussed how they wanted to visit the battle sites of their memories, Teruya bluntly said, 'There's nowhere like that for me, so I'll leave it to you all.' Still, over time, Teruya's expression began to soften. During one session — about six years after he first met Yoshikawa — he told the group he had something to say. 'I'm sorry it's so late. But if everyone's OK with it, I'd like to pray at that cave.' Yoshikawa said she thought the time had finally come for Teruya to speak about his past. The day Teruya and other members of the group visited the cave he had mentioned was shortly after Okinawa Prefecture observed its Memorial Day on June 23, which marks the end of the fierce ground battle. Teruya approached the entrance of the cave, appearing to have made up his mind, then suddenly stopped. After a moment, he took another step — then stopped again. After several such pauses, one of the men in the group gently took Teruya's hand and led him inside. 'No doubt it's here,' Teruya murmured, kneeling on the jagged rocks, and he began to sob. After a bout of crying, Teruya began to speak: He recounted how the cave his unit was using had been discovered by U.S. forces and that the Japanese military decided to take over another cave where civilians had taken shelter. It was packed with residents, and his superior officer said to them, 'We're taking this place. You all get out.' A mother holding a frail, crying baby clung to Teruya's leg and shouted, 'Please, just let this child live.' And then Teruya shot them. After his confession, everyone in the group lit incense and offered prayers. When one member said to him, 'Thank you for sharing,' Teruya burst into tears, this time wailing. As the group left the site, Teruya bowed and said, 'I thought I could never go near that place again alone, but you all gave me the courage.' He added, 'What I did during the war can never be undone, but if this serves as a form of atonement ...' Teruya was born in 1915 in the central part of Okinawa's main island. He was raised by a strict father and a kind mother, and he was good at running. At 25, he married a woman five years his junior. The couple had a daughter and named her Tomi, which means "rich," hoping she would grow up with a heart full of goodness. Teruya was deployed to Southeast Asia during the Pacific War and was determined to give his life to protect his family. In 1944, as the war intensified, he was assigned to Okinawa. By that time, the Japanese military and Okinawa Prefecture were urging residents to leave the prefecture. Teruya's wife and daughter boarded an evacuation ship just as he arrived back in Okinawa. On Aug. 15, 1945, Teruya was in a detention camp when he heard the emperor's radio broadcast announcing Japan's surrender. Though he felt the war was finally over, he couldn't reach his wife and daughter as he had never learned where they had gone. It was several years later that he discovered his wife and daughter had evacuated to Nagasaki and were killed in the U.S. atomic bombing. With the feeling of guilt over the mother and child he had killed, and devastated by the loss of his own family — his emotional anchor — Teruya left Okinawa in despair. He felt he had no reason to live, but soon after, he returned to the islands for work. Even so, he avoided his home village. He always carried with him the only photo he had of his wife and daughter and lived quietly, avoiding contact with others. It took him 65 years to speak about his wartime experience, Yoshikawa said. 'I don't think he wanted to erase his guilt, or justify what he did by confessing,' she said. 'He needed that long to be able to feel this group was a safe enough place to speak,' Yoshikawa said. 'I just waited — and gave him breathing space until he felt the time was ripe — so I could quietly support him from behind.' This section features topics and issues from Okinawa covered by The Okinawa Times, a major newspaper in the prefecture. The original article was published April 17.
CNN
6 days ago
- Health
- CNN
Ukrainian cafe offers pig therapy for war trauma
Ukrainian cafe offers pig therapy for war trauma Residents can momentarily escape the horrors of war by playing with piglets at a cafe in Kyiv. 01:04 - Source: CNN Palestinian UN envoy breaks down talking about Gaza's children The Palestinian ambassador to the UN made an emotional address, saying more than 1,300 children have been killed in Gaza since Israel ended the ceasefire in March. 01:19 - Source: CNN Political candidate wears body armor daily CNN's David Culver met César Gutiérrez Priego as he was readying to campaign for office in Mexico City. Gutiérrez Priego, who is running for a seat on the Supreme Court in Mexico, shows Culver the safety precautions he takes with political violence in Mexico at an all-time high. See Culver's full reporting on CNN. 00:53 - Source: CNN Harvard students and faculty speak out against Trump Harvard students and faculty spoke to CNN ahead of commencement as Donald Trump said the university should cap foreign enrollment. The Trump administration has recently sought to cancel $100 million in contracts with the school. 02:03 - Source: CNN Palestinians desperate for food rush US-backed aid site Scores of people rushed over fencing and through barricades in southern Gaza on the first day a US-Israeli-backed aid site was opened. CNN's Jeremy Diamond explains the desperate humanitarian situation that remains in the region. 01:22 - Source: CNN Journalists spit on at Jerusalem Day flag march Ultra-nationalist Israeli Jews chanted anti-Arab slogans as they marched through Jerusalem's Old City to mark Jerusalem Day. CNN's Oren Liebermann describes heavy police presence on the ground. Members of the crowd were seen spitting on journalists, including a CNN producer. 01:50 - Source: CNN Finland's president responds to Russian military activity along border CNN's Erin Burnett speaks with Finland's President Alexander Stubb about his country ramping up its military to deter potential Russian aggression. 02:16 - Source: CNN King Charles stresses Canada's 'self determination' amid pressure from US King Charles III delivered the ceremonial Speech from the Throne in the Canadian Senate. The address marks only the second time in Canadian history that the reigning sovereign has opened parliament, and the third time that the British monarch has delivered the address. 00:42 - Source: CNN Huge ship refloated after nearly crashing into house A larger container ship has been refloated after nearly crashing into a house in Norway. According to local police, the navigator had fallen asleep at the helm. 00:42 - Source: CNN Vehicle plows into crowd in Liverpool Police in the United Kingdom say a man has been arrested after a car plowed into Liverpool fans celebrating during the soccer club's Premier League trophy parade. 01:14 - Source: CNN Iran's Foreign Ministry on progress of Iran-US talks Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei gave an exclusive interview to CNN's Fred Pleitgen on the progress of continuing nuclear talks with the US. Baqaei told CNN that any attempt by the Trump administration to 'deprive' Iranians of their right to nuclear energy would be 'very problematic'. But he also said that there were many ways to come to a compromise. Iran and the United States concluded a fifth round of talks in Rome on Friday. 01:16 - Source: CNN Video of President Macron's wife 'pushing' him goes viral A video of French President Macron's wife pushing him as they disembarked a flight has caught the attention of Russian trolls after going viral. While Macron himself tried to downplay the video saying it merely showed a couple 'bickering,' it's not the first time Russian troll accounts and state media outlets have tried to use videos of the French president to spread disinformation. CNN's Saskya Vandoorne has more. 01:35 - Source: CNN Israeli strikes were one of this hostage's biggest fears in captivity An Israeli soldier released by Hamas during a ceasefire-hostage deal has said one of her biggest fears during captivity were strikes carried out by Israel. It's 'what endangered me more than anything,' Na'ama Levy said. The former hostage's comments came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this month that defeating Israel's enemies is the 'supreme objective' and more important than securing the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza. 00:57 - Source: CNN Nine of this doctor's children killed in Gaza Dr. Alaa al-Najjar left her ten children at home when she went to work in the emergency room at the Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza. Hours later, the bodies of seven children - most of them badly burned - arrived at the hospital, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. They were Dr. Najjar's own children, killed in an Israeli strike on her home. The bodies of two more of her children – a 7-month-old and a 12-year-old who authorities presume to be dead – remain missing. 02:03 - Source: CNN Harvard foreign student describes atmosphere of 'pure panic' CNN spoke to 20-year-old Abdullah Shahid Sial, a rising junior and student body co-president at Harvard University, about his reaction to the Trump administration's decision to revoke the university's ability to enroll international students. A federal judge temporarily halted the Trump administration's ban on Friday, after the nation's oldest and wealthiest college filed a suit in federal court. 01:29 - Source: CNN This Indian YouTuber is accused of spying An Indian travel vlogger has been arrested on suspicion of spying for Pakistan just days after tensions soared between the two longtime rival nations following an attack last month that left 26 tourists dead in India-administered Kashmir. Police say that 'in the pursuit of views, followers, and viral content, she fell into a trap.' 01:46 - Source: CNN See what Gaza's hotels looked like before the war When Donald Trump announced his plans to turn war-torn Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East," many Palestinians were angered. CNN spoke to two hoteliers, who explained what life was like before the war and their hopes for the future. 01:51 - Source: CNN Mountaineers scaled Mt. Everest in less than a week Mountaineers usually spend weeks or months acclimating to high altitudes before ascending Mt. Everest. But one group accomplished the feat in less than a week after using an anesthetic gas that critics warn could be dangerous. 01:40 - Source: CNN See moment OceanGate team noticed something wrong Newly released video shows OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush's wife, Wendy Rush, who was working on the communications and tracking team, notice the sound of a 'bang' while monitoring the submersible. The Titan submersible imploded on June 18, 2023, killing all five passengers on board. 00:49 - Source: CNN
